LORD NAASsaid, he wished to ask the Secretary to the Admiralty, Whether orders will be issued to Naval Officers on Foreign Stations forbidding them to attack the Ports or Ships of Friendly Powers without a declaration of war or distinct instructions from the Home Government? He put this question with special reference to the case of bombardment which had been brought under the notice of the House the other night.
§ LORD CLARENCE PAGET, in reply said, general orders were issued to Naval Officers on Foreign Stations to the effect that they were not justified in having recourse to any measures of violence without the sanction of the Senior Naval Officer commanding the station. He had, however, to state, 776 with regard to the particular case referred to, the affair of Tringanu, that the Commander-in-Chief of the East India station, which included the Straits, had received instructions on no account to enter into hostilities, without the sanction of the Viceroy of India or the Governor of Bombay, except in the case where British life was involved. The most stringent instructions might be said to have been given to all Naval Officers on the Eastern station not to commit any act of hostility without the proper declaration of war, or such sanction as he had just stated.